Shepard boys basketball hosts Lemont, on December 15, 2017 in Palos Heights. Part of the photo series Illustrious: The Best High School Basketball Gyms in Illinois. (Photo copyright of Vincent D. Johnson)
Alan B. Shepard High School in Palos Heights has by far one of my personal favorite murals in a high school gym. I’m 100% going to admit there is some bias here, because my entire youth I had dreamed of being an astronaut one day. Add on my love for the science-fiction genre and it’s easy to see what this one up there.
Another reason is it falls in line with a set of other gym-wall murals across the Chicago area there were done in the Trompe-l’œil style, essentially giving it an optical allusion that it has depth. Lyons Township’s North Campus field house has as similar style, as do several other gyms. There’s a really interesting story about a number of these murals that were one by a local artist named Timm Etters.
The astronaut mural on the back wall of the main gym at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, on Feb. 7, 2025. Part of the photo series Illustrious: The Best High School Basketball Gyms in Illinois. (Photo copyright of Vincent D. Johnson)The astronaut mural on the back wall of the main gym is sometimes obscured from view during games as a partition net is lowered, at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, on Feb. 7, 2025. Part of the photo series Illustrious: The Best High School Basketball Gyms in Illinois. (Photo copyright of Vincent D. Johnson)A side court beyond the baseline off of the main court at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, on Feb. 7, 2025. Part of the photo series Illustrious: The Best High School Basketball Gyms in Illinois. (Photo copyright of Vincent D. Johnson)
Shepard High School’s student section is known as the Orange Crush, in Palos Heights, on Feb. 7, 2025. Part of the photo series Illustrious: The Best High School Basketball Gyms in Illinois. (Photo copyright of Vincent D. Johnson)
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